Boris Johnson has been criticised by Nicola Sturgeon and Keir Starmer after he said Margaret Thatcher gave Britain a “big early start” in the fight against climate change when she closed coal mines across the UK.
Scotland’s First Minister said the remarks were “crass” and “deeply insensitive” while Mr Starmer said they showed the British prime minister was “out of touch” with working people.
Mr Johnson made the comments towards the end of a two-day trip north of the border.
He was pressed on whether he would set a deadline for ending fossil fuel extraction as he visited a giant wind farm off the coast of Scotland.
Mr Johnson hailed existing action to move to greener forms of power, stating when he was a child 70 per cent to 80 per cent of all electricity had been coal-generated – with this falling to 40 per cent by the time he became London mayor.
“Since then, it’s gone right down to 1 per cent, or sometimes less,” he stated.
Mr Johnson said: “Look at what we’ve done already. We’ve transitioned away from coal in my lifetime.
“Thanks to Margaret Thatcher, who closed so many coal mines across the country, we had a big early start and we’re now moving rapidly away from coal altogether.”
Writing on Twitter, Ms Sturgeon condemned the comments.
Lives & communities in Scotland were utterly devastated by Thatcher’s destruction of the coal industry (which had zero to do with any concern she had for the planet). To treat that as something to laugh about is crass & deeply insensitive to that reality. https://t.co/QY0Y59UO3K
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 5, 2021
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She said: “Lives & communities in Scotland were utterly devastated by Thatcher’s destruction of the coal industry (which had zero to do with any concern she had for the planet).
“To treat that as something to laugh about is crass & deeply insensitive to that reality.”
Mr Starmer tweeted: “Boris Johnson’s shameful praising of Margaret Thatcher’s closure of the coal mines, brushing off the devastating impact on those communities with a laugh, shows just how out of touch he is with working people.”
Labour’s leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar said the remarks were “just another example of why the Tories are a disaster and the biggest threat to the union”.
The party’s energy spokeswoman at Holyrood, Monica Lennon, criticised the British prime minister for “laughing about Thatcher’s pit closures that decimated our mining communities”.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is in Scotland laughing about Thatcher’s pit closures that decimated our mining communities.
The Tories are incapable of delivering a just transition for workers and communities. https://t.co/T5qgHnPAI7— Monica Lennon MSP (@MonicaLennon7) August 5, 2021
Fellow Labour MSP Neil Bibby said: “To attempt to turn one of the most divisive and destructive periods in British history into a retrospective victory for the environment is deeply offensive to the people and communities who faced considerable hardship and misery.”
